The pandemic changed my shopping habits. While mostly imprisoned at home, I learned to value the online convenience of Walmart, Staples, Amazon, the “big box” outfits. It’s not just big stuff. I ran out of printer ink cartridges. Rather than drive 20-30 miles and risk the stores being ...

Recently, the South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer District (“Sewer District”) moved ahead on extending sewer service up the west side of Chautauqua Lake as far as Stow. Bid specifications were sent out to potential contractors to construct this new sewer extension. As readers of this ...

Are you undecided about getting a COVID Vaccination? Are you worried about getting the vaccine? Do you know what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be? This decision is hard for many people. One expects clear medical science, but so many groups have weighed in that it makes one’s head spin. ...

I don’t want to be in a group I’m in now. It’s the “Mother’s Day without Your Mother” Club. The annual drive to a local flower shop to pick out a lovely hanging basket with an attached sentimental personal note for mom is over. Mom died and went to be with Jesus less than 2 months ...

Parenting is arguably the most challenging occupation any adult will ever acquire. Raising children (biological or not) requires a great deal of attentiveness, responsibility, and patients. Each and every child is entirely its own, and as my mother always says “they don’t come with a ...

Over 30 years ago, a real estate bigwig in Manhattan (no, not him) was convicted of tax evasion. Her name was Leona Helmsley, the famous Queen of Mean. Even more famous, lasting approximately forever, were six words she let slip: “Only the little people pay taxes.” The words are far ...

There have been some polls taken recently which indicate that up to 25% of Americans surveyed were not planning on being vaccinated. That is hard for me to understand. When I was a kid, getting vaccinated was an automatic thing in our family. Whether it was for measles, small pox or ...

As parents, guardians, and as a community, we know that it takes a village to build healthy and resilient people. Teachers, coaches, pastors, neighbors, family, and friends can influence and shape us in many ways. As we close this new academic year, we remember that schools have been a safe ...

Hospice workers are angels. They come to people for whom they care, and their families and friends, at times of unique need, and they stand ready to help however they can. In so doing, they can make trying times less trying. That sums up today’s column. It’s that simple. So if ...

By Rolland Kidder For me, the final day, the final hole of the Masters Golf Tournament is always spectacle for an emotional outpouring of the best in sport. This year was no exception. As he walked toward the 18th green, this year’s winner was special and the crowd knew it. Small by ...

By Robyn Near May is ALS Awareness Month. ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig disease, affects about 30,000 Americans at any given time, and approximately 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed every year. ALS Awareness month is a campaign to draw attention to, ...

LOS ANGELES — For those who have stood in these shoes, no explanation is necessary. For those who haven’t stood in these shoes, no explanation suffices. Someone who, or whose wife or husband, is initially confronted with a challenge that might somehow, sometime become life threatening, ...

I don’t know about you, but I am pleased that pronouncements from the White House have substantially decreased under our newly-elected President. For the past four years, you could almost count on getting three or four “tweets” in the early morning hours many of which were attacks or ...

Thirty or so years ago, soon after my wife Sue and I first joined Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Toledo, we met a young priest then serving as assistant rector, her first calling out of seminary. Today, that priest, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, is the Episcopal Bishop of ...

Redistricting has been called “the backroom blood sport of politics.” The good news is that it may be coming a bit more into the light in New York state. Redistricting is the process of drawing legislative districts. By federal law, redistricting must occur following the census ...

National Child Abuse Prevention Month recognizes the importance of communities working together to help families thrive and prevent child maltreatment. There are formal and informal ways that child abuse and/or maltreatment can be prevented. During this unprecedented time of living ...

LOS ANGELES – In the 1950s and 1960s, a particular organization with views that in some quarters were – to put it mildly – unpopular sought to exercise its First Amendment rights and advance its agenda. But along came the government of a particular state that – for transparency’s ...

I have always been amazed by how most Americans pride themselves in making good value decisions—getting a “good deal” on things. Of course, advertisers know this so they promote things like “two for the price of one” or “50% off the retail price” in order to pull buyers in. 50% ...

When people live somewhere long enough, they often forget what they love about it. The next time you take a drive locally, pretend you’ve never been here before. Try to see the area through the eyes of a stranger. Think about the features that draw you to visit other places. Think about the ...

On this date (April 5) in 1952, Milton Joseph Fletcher, age ninety, died in Sarasota, Florida. Justice Robert H. Jackson soon learned the sad news, and he grieved. More than forty years earlier, when Jackson was seventeen years old, he had attended Jamestown High School in Jamestown, New ...